Patio umbrellas are well known in which an umbrella canopy is mounted to a mast to provide shade for a deck, patio, garden, or the like. If the umbrella is of a tilting design, then whenever the umbrella canopy is tilted such that its center of gravity is no longer directly above the umbrella mount, considerable torque is be exerted on the mount and may tend to cause the umbrella to topple over. Even win the umbrella canopy is not tilted, breezes can exert forces on the umbrella which tend to topple it. And in the case of side mast umbrellas, where the umbrella canopy is cantilevered out to the side of the mast, the torque exerted on the umbrella base by the dead weight of the umbrella canopy can be much higher, and even higher still on breezy days.
In applications where the umbrella will be used in only a single location, an umbrella base can be bolted to the underlying support structure, thus providing a sufficiently secure mount to resist such torque. However, in many applications it may be desirable to be able to move the umbrella around to various locations, or to be able to store the umbrella when not in use without an intrusive umbrella stand being left in place. Such applications call for portable umbrella stands. The portable umbrella stand must be able to withstand the forces exerted by the umbrella without toppling, and without being anchored to the supporting substructure.
The majority of portable umbrella stands rely on some form of ballast to weigh down the umbrella stand. Heavy objects such as concrete blocks must be purchased separately from the umbrella and positioned on the umbrella stand to prevent the umbrella from toppling over.
The requirement for ballast presents a number of problems. First, there is the requirement for obtaining the ballast. Costs of shipping packages of heavy weight make it economically impractical to include the ballast along with the umbrella. In addition, commonly used forms of ballast such as concrete blocks and the like will not fit within the typical umbrella box, which is only about ten inches wide by six inches deep. Further, many stores which sell patio umbrellas do not sell concrete blocks or other suitable objects for use as ballast, meaning the purchaser must travel to another store after purchasing the umbrella to obtain the ballast. In addition, there is the problem of the umbrella owner having to haul heavy concrete blocks to the location where the umbrella will be used. Then, when it is desired to take the umbrella down, the heavy ballast must again be carried to a storage location.
Thus there is a need for an improved portable umbrella stand.
There is a further need for an portable umbrella stand in which the entire device can be shipped in the same shipping carton with the umbrella.
There still a further need for an improved portable umbrella stand which does not require the umbrella purchaser to make a trip to a store separate from the store from which the umbrella is purchased in order to obtain suitable ballast.
Further, there is a need for an improved portable umbrella stand in which the umbrella purchaser does not have to carry ballast to the location where the umbrella will be used.